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Encouraging StoriesFinding Christ Through a Cell Group (Story of Matt Jones Salvation) "Cell"ular Sound Bytes (stories from our cells and stories of life transformation) Wednesday Night Cell (combination of ministry for children at the facility and ministry to adults in cell) We just want to thank you again for making it possible for us to be a part of a cell group on Wednesday nights. We moved here in 2005 and for the last couple of years we have visited just about every baptist church in the area. Finally, when we came to Allen, it just felt right. Now that we have 3 small children, we never believed it would be possible for us to be in a cell group together. We live on one income so we really can't afford a weekly babysitter and we don't have family in town. My new year's resolution was to really work hard at finding a church home and I prayed for God to lead us in the right direction. It's amazing how my prayers were answered so quickly. All I had to do was ask. And now I see how God is working in our lives by opening the doors to cell group. The Jill Boyle's Story Delivered January 2oth at our Services - Click Here My 40 Day Fasting Experience By Anonymous So ... I just finished a forty day fast for spiritual growth. It was amazing. The fifth day was the hardest; after that it wasn’t bad. While I was on the fast I learned how important it was to pray. God is the one who got me through this fast. During this time, God made me realize how much time I was spending involved in what I was going to eat at that moment and at the next meal and the next day after that. It was such an eye opener to me how unhealthy I had become even though people had been telling me for years. So I give all the thanks to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Also during this fast, I became a leader of a cell group which has been awesome. This was all in God’s plan for me. Now I know that being a pastor is what God wants me to do and I am slowly being groomed for that. I can’t wait, but it is in God’s will. This is my prayer: Lord, I just give you all glory and thanks for You are amazing and I thank You every day for pulling me out of the deep, deep valley. You have saved my marriage and You have given me this gift of this amazing wife and mother of our children. Thank you from my deepest part of my heart.
Our Ministry Highlighted in Joel Comiskey Group Newsletter The Beauty of One Another Minstry By Bill Dykes On Jan. 2, 2008 our Wednesday night cell group was truly blessed by the presence of the Lord. We had just finished up the “Word” part of our lesson so I had everyone make a circle, making sure to mix up spouses and genders. Each group member was to step into the middle of the circle. As we went around the circle each person was responsible for edifying or saying something encouraging about that person. WOW! As each person spoke, God opened up the heavens and poured down on us. Everyone was overcome by the Holy Spirit. One by one each group member was edified in a way that I had never seen or heard before. Everyone participated and heard God’s voice. God spoke through each person in a mighty way that brought tears, joy and love. After we had finished, God had made it clear to all that this is what a cell group is all about; making sure that each person leaves knowing they have been touched and ministered to. Each group member was and is an instrument of edification. God showed us all that we need others to help us see ourselves the way God sees us. Every week we thank God for our group and bringing us all together. This night was an incredible blessing for everyone.
My Testimony By Hideaki Horikoshi When I was little, I remember walking down the path to go down to a temple on New Year’s day, which is a tradition in Japanese culture, seeing a bunch of people holding up pictures of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, and announcing the verses from the Bible through a microphone. Nobody seemed to really pay attention, but I remember asking my father as a curious child, “Who is Jesus Christ?” My father simply smiled and told me “Boy, you don’t have to worry about it, how about another candy huh?” Coming from Japan, where more than 50% of the population is Atheist, when I moved to New York in the summer of 2000, spirituality was one of the many things that I did not know about American culture as a whole. To say the least, learning the language, adjusting to the school system, and getting used to the enormous food servings were more important to me back then. The high school I attended was very small, and mostly Jewish. It’s embarrassing to say, but I went to the first couple Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs with no knowledge that it is a religious celebration; to me, it was more of an opportunity to hang out with my friends who I could barely communicate with and eat good food. Four years in high school was definitely not the best time I had in my short career so far: I was learning the English language for the most part in school. Because of that, my grades weren’t that great, and my family was a mess. I was suicidal; I did slit my wrist a couple times, and I struggled to get along with my parents. I must say I was somewhat relieved to leave New York to attend college in Salisbury. As a freshman, I arrived at Salisbury University in September of 2006. I experienced what society calls “college life” for the first couple months down here before I encountered God. Partying hard on the weekends, doing whatever I felt like doing, to say the least. Somehow I still felt empty inside, and that’s when I first had a conversation about God. One of my strongest passions is to dance. I tried out to be on a dance team at Salisbury called “Untouchables Dance Inc.” Through there, I met this one girl whom I found to be attractive. I expressed my interest to her towards the end of the first semester, and the response she gave to me was pretty much “I love God!” Unlike some people, I just couldn’t back off that time; as selfish as I sound, I just wanted to find out more about this God thing that she was so into. She ended up taking me to Allen Memorial that weekend. That was my first church experience. I kept coming back to church for the next couple weeks, because it was fun for me. I loved the music, and I enjoyed hearing Pastor Warren’s message each week. I was still partying on the side, but I did begin to slow down. One Sunday, I found myself filling out the “Christian counseling request” that I found in the bulletin. That week, Pastor Michael Sove e-mailed me and we set up a meeting. Going into the meeting, I did not know what to expect. I did not even have a Bible with me at that point. I went in to the meeting that day an Atheist, and came out of it as a follower of Jesus Christ. I still remember the Bible verse that we discussed for a good amount of time; Romans 10:13 “for anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” That verse just blew me away. I did not know how to react. Until that day, I thought you had to know and follow certain rules to become a follower of anything. That verse just simply shocked me. At the end, that day, March 10th 2007, I did become a follower of Jesus Christ and it completely changed my life. I did not feel the difference right away, but in upcoming weeks, I found myself asking a bunch of questions to fellow Christians, and looking forward to weekly meetings that I had with Pastor Michael. I found myself looking for and spending more time with people who helped me get to God. And for the first time, I felt as though that empty spot in my heart has been filled, with love of God. And to this day, that hasn’t changed. A few weeks ago, my mentor passed away with prostate cancer. If God wasn’t with me that day, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. Even though selfishly I miss him a lot, I know that Peter, my mentor is with the Lord now, and that he is happy: Peter was one of the people who were so excited to hear that I had become a follower of Christ, because he himself was in love with God. God has led me to do many things since I’ve been a follower of His. Just a few days ago, I invited my parents to go to church with me on the way back to Salisbury after Thanksgiving break. I did not know what to expect when I asked that question. But their answer was “yes.” I cannot describe to you how happy that simple word made me feel. The same father who told me to not worry about who Jesus Christ was, was now coming to church with me. When they told me that they enjoyed their first church experience, I was truly happy for them and only wished that there was a church back home where they can go frequently. If you asked me to describe myself in one word last year around this time, I would probably used words like Japanese, male, dancer, or a student to describe myself. But ask me that now and I will tell you from the bottom of my heart, that I am a Christian: that I have been saved by Jesus Christ, and I am in love with him. Thank you. Story from Cindy McEarchern about the "Matthew Party" held this week. Our "Matthew Party" was at the home of Joan and Norman Ringer's. We had a most delicious spaghetti dinner with Joan's "famous" homemade sauce and then we played Bunko.. The great thing about this game there is only four to a table and the two losers had to move to another table for the next game. This game kept everyone mixing with others and at some point you played the game with just about everyone in the group...We had 19 in attendance and 6 of them were guests, 4 of them have not been to AMBC!!!! We surprised one of our new members to the group with a birthday cake and card....she even blushed...this had been a hard time for this lady with the recent loss of her husband and I believe she is really enjoying herself with the group... I know she had a good time tonight!!!! It was such a wonderful evening, just what the doctor ordered for me. I had had a rough day and was feeling rather blue, but when I left tonight I was on a high!!! Everyone knows how to party, but now we know how to party "Bunko-style"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cindy McEarchern Here is a story from Pat Doster who attends a Tuesaday cell group... I arrived in Salisbury on Feb. 17th of this year. Having lost my mother and husband in recent years, I decided it was best to sell my home in Florida and stay with my son in Salisbury for a while and wait for God's direction. My grandson lived in Delmar, Md at the time, so he would be close as well. It was so cold here and loneliness had set in to the point where I felt completely "lost". My son and I were invited to attend services at AMBC by a friend of his around the middle of March. At the service, I noticed the bulletin had a tear-off for visitors so I filled it out stating that I would like to meet friends. After the service, we went to breakfast and I told my son's friend how much I enjoyed the service and hoped to attend again. Not long after we arrived home, my son called to me on the front porch and told me the preacher wants to talk with you on the phone. What preacher I asked? When I answered the phone, it was Pastor Warren and I could hardly believe it!!!! With all he has to do on a Sunday, he is calling me???? Pastor Warren had read my card and invited me to a neighborhood life group that met that coming Tuesday and said he would be glad to pick me up. Well, sure enough he showed up on time with several others in his car. I am thinking, "with three services on Sunday and all the other things ministers do, can you believe he is taking a group of us to a meeting on Tuesday. My what an energetic and dedicated man he must be". When we arrived at Mike Miles home, people had already begun to gather. There was food, drinks (coke, pepsi, etc.) and lots of friendly faces. I immediately felt welcome and comfortable. What a delightful feeling for someone as lonely as I was. Matt Still lead the group and he and others literally embraced me. Many asked me to come again next week. I began to attend regularly knowing instantly that these people were now my friends. I so looked forward to Tuesdays, I found myself wishing there were four Tuesdays in a week. We have laughed together on many occasions and even shed tears on others. The neighborhood life/cell groups are about continuing to worship God as a "family" would. Caring so much for each other is such a blessing....I mentioned more than once in my group that the two hours I spent there each week was my "sanity time" in a very chaotic and sometime crazy world. I believe my new life is here in Salisbury now. I am now a member of AMBC, I work pretty much full time and attend class on Saturdays taking a Tax Accounting class. I share a home with Betty Mills, also a new friend and member of the church. I shutter to think where I would be had Pastor Warren not called me and had I not said yes to his invitation to "Tuesday Cell Group". I also want to thank Mike and Cary Sove. They mean so much to me... Patricia "Pat" Doster Here is a story from a party held by the Tuesday Neighborhood Life cell of Matt and Breta Still. Matt writes, “Tuesday night was a wonderful blessing. Everyone had a great time. Good food, the great standards of Nat King Cole and Judy Garland alike charmed us in the background. The Lord certainly made his presence known with the love of friendships quickly being made, new and old. Of the 17 present the Lord brought 6 people he wants us to help seek him. The youth actually brought their own entertainment, drawing, talking, laughing together and even enjoying the adults being silly.” “We ended up playing a couple of board games, the Battle of the Sexes men against the ladies. I do believe the ladies prevailed. Also while that was going on many of us were playing "Reel It". We gave association words to a movie or actresses and actors and the others guessed what or who they were. The night flew by with conversations of the new church and Christ ending the evening on a hopeful note.” “What a vision, what a tool to build towards his kingdom. This was exciting to experience and be in the middle of the Lords plan. Watching the presence of the Lord work, there is no greater love.” Story from Angela Covellii's cell group party held during connection week. Monday night was terrific and my neighbors where thrilled. The Lord worked all day for me. One of my neighbors came by to chop basil and garlic in the afternoon. Then my cell group came and basically cooked for me. We grilled out and some people brought covered dishes. I have a really new neighborhood and no one had ever had anything like this except for our realtor. People stayed and talked for about 3 hours. We had a lot of food and desserts. Everyone just pitched in and that’s why it was so incredibly special, considering I’m on crutches and temporarily handicapped. The huge blessing was that it brought people together that normally wouldn’t be together. Our neighborhood is new and most neighbors didn’t know each other. But everyone said that this was a great gathering. We didn’t plan anything except for the food but my house was filled. We had 9 cell group members and 12 neighbors, some of them children. The children just talked with adults and ran around outside. I feel that the most special thing was how everyone pitched in and how smooth everything went. I had wet hair at 5:30 and everyone was expected to arrive at 6:00. My small group friends started coming at 5:45 and finished the cooking. We actually ate at 6:30 and it enabled people to actually talk. One of my neighbors wants to start having gatherings himself. We said a blessing, but really just walked across the room. I hadn’t experienced success inviting people to church events. So just having dinner really worked. Angela
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